let them eat cake
by shellsuite
Summary: Bakery AU in which Jason opens up a bakery right across the street from Aria's and a whole lot of egging ensues
1. part 1

Aria Montgomery grew up helping in her mother's bakery, Gomery Goods, which was like the only bakery in Rosewood. Well, the only good one at least, if you ask Ella. Gomery Goods had been in business for about twenty-two years, ever since Aria's parents moved to the quiet town Rosewood after marriage. Originally, her parents had both been teachers, but when Aria was born, Ella decided to be a stay at home mother, her time usually spent caring for her daughter or trying out a new cake recipe. It didn't occur to Ella to start up a business at first, but with a few nudging words from people around the town, Gomery Goods would soon be open for business in a matter of months, staffed with a few of the college students and, of course, little Aria and sometimes her baby brother if he would just stop tasting everything.

Aria liked working at the bakery as she grew older. It sort of became second nature to her. When she wasn't at school, then she was at the bakery, sometimes even opening it up by herself and perhaps running it for a few hours if it was a particularly light day. A couple of the popular items on display were creations made by Aria herself. Ella didn't think that she'd ever really have that sort of bakery that sold _tarts_, but once Aria baked a batch of lemon tarts and gave out free samples (Mrs. DiLaurentis placed an order for her Sunday brunch), Ella decided to expand the menu with the tarts, a few fruit danishes, and macarons.

"Maybe you can take this place over in a few years," Ella had said one evening as she locked the front of the shop. "People are already asking you for recipes. You're Rosewood's very own superstar."

Aria had been thirteen when her mother told her that, almost ten years ago. If Aria was being completely honest, then the last thing she wanted to do was stay in Rosewood forever just to run her mother's bakery. Don't get her wrong for she loved the place. It was a second home, where her friends came to hang out to eat cupcakes and drink coffee while talking about boys. Gomery Goods was where Aria's friend, Hanna, got her first kiss. The bakery was where Emily told them she was a lesbian. It was where Spencer announced she'd gotten into every Ivy League in the country. It was where Alison...where Alison said she couldn't imagine not having the four of them as her best friends before she disappeared the very next day.

Alison's sudden disappearance isn't what deterred Aria from truly staying in Rosewood. Yes, it certainly was a factor because the last thing Aria really wanted to do was stay in the town where her best friend was brutally murdered, but she wanted to see the world. Or at least a different part of the country and in a city where you were lucky if you saw the same person twice. And what better place than New York, the Big Apple? The city of dreams? The concrete jungle? It was practically calling Aria. _Join us, Aria. We have cute hipster guys who contemplate whether or not man will go through some type of reverse revolution and sprout gills again. _See? It was calling her.

Ella had been initially heartbroken when Aria told her the news. She sat down with her parents one night after dinner, Mike was out with whoever he was dating, and Ella seemed to have already prepared for this. She was devastated, still.

"I knew as soon as you went off to culinary school that you wouldn't want to stay here," Ella sighed, frowning. "But I can't make you stay here, even if I want you to."

While at culinary school in western Pennsylvania, Aria shared an apartment with Gloria Jameson, a tall girl with caramel skin and hazel eyes. She wasn't much of a baker, but _loved _French cuisine. Gloria had was originally from Upper Manhattan and decided to go to school in Pennsylvania because she was offered a full scholarship. Also, she just wanted to get out of her parents' nonstop supervision, which Aria could tell because Gloria seemed to have a party to go to every night while Aria was slaving away in their kitchen over cheesecakes and scones.

The two of them had become such close friends, the two of them seeming to always have comfort food for one another during an especially bad breakup (Aria would really rather never speak of Ezra again and Gloria might puke if she hears the name Landon again). Gloria suggested that after the summer Aria come to New York where they could rent out another apartment because it worked so well the first few years. It sucked having all of her high school friends still in Rosewood, save for Spencer who was somewhere in Europe interning as ambassador for something important, but this was what Aria needed to do. She had to get on with her life as an entrepreneur, and that meant leaving Rosewood and all those memories behind.

Until she opened up Aria's Bakery and Espresso Café. Until business was doing great and then another bakery opened up directly across the street, and the side streets of Manhattan weren't that big so this was personal. Someone had a vendetta out for Aria named Jason. Jason DiLaurentis, Alison's brother. Suddenly, Gomery Goods didn't seem so bad.

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A/N: hey guys! this is gonna be really short and quick and just loads of fluff with a tiny splash of angst. as you can see, i have an OFC and will have a few more OCs as well. shouldn't take me long to finish so enjoy :)


	2. part 2

Jason DiLaurentis is literally the devil.

"He's literally Satan."

Gloria hums in agreement, though she's really only focusing on not screwing up her manicure.

"I mean, isn't that against the law? Like, it's taking business away from me. Like, a direct competition."

"I think that's why we're a free market economy? Because everyone has the right to open up a business wherever they want? I don't know. I didn't do great in polisci." Gloria shrugs.

Aria turns the speed up on the mixer. She shouldn't, but she's angry. These poor egg yolks are gonna get the beating of their lives so she might as well just make this a pound cake.

"Was he following me?" Aria asks as if her roommate has an answer. "I just don't get it. The entire reason was to get away from Rosewood, not have people from there show up and move across the street."

Gloria blows on her fingernails. "He probably doesn't even know it's you. Maybe you're overreacting."

Aria doubts that. Ella definitely told Mrs. DiLaurentis and she definitely blabbed to the entire town and so Jason knows and that's why he's here because...because of something Aria doesn't know yet.

"Maybe I should go out of business," Aria muses and Gloria gasps. "Or I could bribe a health inspector. Have him find rats in Jason's bakery."

Gloria laughs. "Honey, it's New York. Everyone has rats, they're practically taxpayers."

Aria finally turns off the mixer. It's no use. The eggs can't be used for anything except maybe scrambled. "It's just...why now? Why here of all places?"

"I think everyone loves the city, Aria."

"I mean, like, it just doesn't seem like a coincidence."

Gloria purses her lips and hops off of the kitchen counter, sliding a little bit as her socks collide with tile. "Maybe he likes you."

"Jason?" Aria screeches in disbelief. "No. The only girls he's ever been attracted to are those ones in those Japanese comic books with the giant breasts."

Gloria smiles softly before breaking out and singing, "Darling, you are the only exception."

Aria rolls her eyes and Gloria walks away laughing, saying she's going to put in Avengers because they both could use a lot of eye candy tonight.

Right when Bruce hulks out aboard the helicarrier, Aria gets it. Jason must be here because of Alison. If he hated anyone, them it was Aria because she was the last person to see Ali before she disappeared. Rosewood was a safe town so they never really thought about the dangers of walking alone by themselves. Aria walked midway with Alison to her house until her father called and told her to come straight home because Mike had been in an accident. Ali huffed, like she always did when she wasn't being put first, but ultimately said her goodbyes and told Aria to text her if she needed anything. Needless to say, Alison never made it home that night and this must be some weird type of revenge that only Jason could come up with. Well, if he wants a war, then it's a war he'll get.

Aria normally opens up the bakery at seven each morning, waking up around 5 to do prep, but this morning she gets up at 4 and jogs before heading out. Of course, she has to jog past Jason's shop, though she really can't see a thing. The windows are tinted and the sliver of nothing that she can make out is just a table with two chairs by the window. Since when could Jason even bake? Or does he have just a staff that does all his bidding while he thinks of ways to take down Aria? Probably the latter.

Lillian comes into the bakery a little before opening and twists into her apron. Aria only met the girl a few months ago because she was desperate for a job and seemed competent enough so she hired her. Her cherub like face and doe eyes certainly helped business some, though that's probably kind of bad.

She takes one look at Aria's exhausted yet angered face and pouts. "Couldn't sleep?" Lillian asks, taking the frosting piper from Aria's hands.

Aria lets out a breath and leans on the opposite counter. "Yes, and no."

She did sleep, but her dreams were full of anger so she definitely isn't rested. That jog didn't help either, instead just made her angrier. Who the hell does Jason think he is anyway? At what point did he decide that this was the best way to get even with Aria? And what a crappy way of doing it, too.

"Have you seen the new store opening up across the street?" Lillian asks. "It looks nice."

Aria folds her arms in disdain. "It looks terrible," she simply says and walks to the front of the shop to open. Across the street there is already a long line outside of Jason's shop, a few of the patrons she recognizes that came in her store every few days. Well, it looks like chivalry is dead. There's also a light blue strip of giant ribbon in front of the entrance and she swears if Jason comes out with a pair of scissors like this is fucking groundbreaking-gasp and there he is the fucker. Aria doesn't mean to press her face up against the glass, but that's what she does. She's a goldfish and her bakery is the bowl and Jason is a shark with the whole ocean. He looks so charming. Charming and maddening. Aria can't make out what he's saying, but he's smiling a lot and people are laughing-her regulars-like Jason DiLaurentis is just a catch.

"Are we stalking him?" Lillian asks, startling Aria.

"No," Aria answers coolly. "Just...observing. And if you happen to go over there on your break and...gather intel then I won't mind."

Lillian narrows her big eyes, a true effort. "Um. Aria. Maybe you're overreacting. A little?"

Aria grumbles and throws her hands up in the and goes behind the counter. She is not overreacting. In fact, she's probably underreacting. She could probably get a restraining order filed if she wanted to. God, she's starting to act like Hanna. Spence on a bad day.

The day goes on and while there hasn't been a huge decline in customers, it is noticeable that usually around this time Aria would be putting her 12th apple pie in the oven, but she's only sticking in her 9th. 3 pies down isn't bad, but still. When Lillian comes back from her lunch break, chipper as hell and still chewing when she walks through the door, she has a pamphlet in her hand. She waves it in front of Aria ("I chot a menchu") and Aria snatches it, eyes soaking in every detail right down to the laminate to the stupid Calibri font.

"Bread baked daily," Aria mocks as she reads aloud. "I swear, Lillian, it's like I'm being punked."

Lillian is still confused when she asks, "Is there something I should know about? He's really cute. And nice. I don't think he's out to shut you down."

Aria's eye go wide. "Did you talk to him?"

Lillian nods slowly. "I told him I work in the bakery across the street and he said he'll stop in one day. Oh, and thanked me for welcoming him into the neighborhood."

Ugh, the pretentious d-bag is already trying to get with Lillian and it hasn't even been a day. Amazing.

"Do you know him, Aria?"

"We lived in the same town," Aria answers because that's enough truth for the day. It's more than enough truth she ever wants to even remember.

It's not that she hates Jason. Aria doesn't hate anyone, except maybe Ezra, but that's a whole other story. She never really got to know Jason that much, other than what Ali told her. All he did was get drunk and high with his friends and didn't give a crap about anyone but himself. Of course, Jason never repudiated any of those claims because whenever Aria saw him he was nursing a hangover and kinda rude. But now Lillian was saying that Jason apparently took a complete 180. Even if it is true, Aria has no reason to believe it. Jason DiLaurentis definitely has it out for her.


End file.
